New York Times 1-22-03Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one noticed thatone of their employees had been sitting dead at his desk for FIVE DAYSbefore anyone asked if he was feeling okay. George Turklebaum, 51,whohad been employed as a proof-reader at a New York firm for 30 years,hada heart attack in the open-plan office he shared with 23 other workers.

He quietly passed away on Monday, but nobody noticed until Saturday morningwhen an office cleaner asked why he was still working during theweekend. His boss Elliot Wachiaski said: "George was always the firstguy in each morning and the last to leave at night, so no one found itunusual that he was in the same position all that time and didn't sayanything.

He was always absorbed in his work and kept much to himself." A post mortemexamination revealed that he had been dead for five days aftersuffering a coronary. Ironically, George was proof reading manuscriptsof medical text books when he died. You may want to give yourco-workers a nudge occasionally.